1755 Virginia cabin considered for S.A. landmark

By Scott Huddleston :
June 5, 2013
: Updated: June 5, 2013 10:54pm

This 1750s log cabin was built in Virginia and transported piece-by-piece to San Antonio in the 1950s. The Historic and Design Review Commission upheld a finding of historic significance, and a landmark designation now awaits review by the Zoning Commission and final action by the City Council.

A closer look at the log cabin at 554 W. Broadview Drive shows notches in timbers and the mortar between them.

Photo By SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS

A closer look at this 1750s log cabin originally built in Virgina and transported piece-by-piece to San Antonio show notches in timbers and the mortar between them. The home may be designated a historic landmark and is up for consideration Wednesday by the Historic and Design Review Commission.

Photo By SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS

This 1750s log cabin was built in Virgina and transported piece-by-piece to San Antonio. The home may be designated a historic landmark and is up for consideration Wednesday by the Historic and Design Review Commission.

Photo By SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS

This 1750s log cabin was built in Virgina and transported piece-by-piece to San Antonio. The home may be designated a historic landmark and is up for consideration Wednesday by the Historic and Design Review Commission.

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A cabin built in 1750s Virginia and transported piece-by-piece to San Antonio 200 years later may soon become a local historic landmark, to the delight of the family living there.

“I'm excited. It feels like it ought to be a little museum or something,” said Rose Perez, who bought the Northwest Side house at 554 W. Broadview Drive in 2010.

Some have said Sam Houston, a famed Texan who was commanding general in the Texas Revolution, president of the republic and later governor, may have visited the house or passed by during his youth in Rockbridge Co., Va.

The two-story log cabin is the only example of an 18th century Southeastern structure in San Antonio and possibly all of Texas, according to a report by the city's Office of Historic Preservation.

In 1952, Texas contractor and history enthusiast Hal Clayburne had the cabin, with its rough, hand-hewn log walls and exposed ceiling beams, moved to San Antonio. It was originally built around 1755, more than 20 years before the U.S. Declaration of Independence was signed. At the time of its construction, the western part of the Virginia colony was considered part of the new frontier.

Clayburne, apparently swept up in a trend of renewed interest in Colonial American construction, paid “a few dollars” for the cabin and had it shipped to Texas by train, according to staff reports. He also moved a smaller circa-1800 log cabin from the same area of Virginia and attached it to the older structure.

Newspaper reports of the 1950s documented the project, including reconstruction of the fireplaces and chimneys with rocks weighing up to 200 pounds each. Termites were a problem for several months. Clayburne used the cabin to house his more than 300 antique clocks.

Perez, who lives with her sister and nephew, grew up in the area and remembered the cabin. She saw that it was up for sale and asked about it. When she bought it at an undisclosed price at an auction, it had been neglected, had a musty odor and was “kind of creepy,” she said.

Perez added a new metal roof and repainted the exterior to better highlight the cabin's windows and log construction. She upgraded the cabinetry, plumbing and electrical systems in the cabin, which she said functions well as a house. Since the original split-rail fence that had surrounded it had already been replaced, she built a white picket fence around the structure.

“Most people thought I was nuts when I bought it. Some will say, 'What is this house doing here?'” Perez said.